Marine mine



F. W. HAMPTON.

MARINE MINE.

APPLICATION FILED MM5. I9I8.

2 SHEETS-SHLE] l.

Patented June 22, 1920.

mw WN vF. W. HAMPTON.

MARINE MINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5, 1918. 1,343,969. Patented June 22, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

To all .whom-z5 may concern:

narran stains ism" ori-FICE.

FREDERIC w. HAMPTON, oF-INDIANAPOLIS, nvpihiva.

Airai-MNE 1,343,969. Application iei March 5,V

' traiiic may be carried on through the mined area without danger, butso that sub-surface traiiic will become entangled with the mine j insuch manner that continued movement will result in transportation of themine and an explosion thereof in close proximity to the entangledvessel.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. Figure 1 is an axialsection of the timing and detonating element of my invention; Fig. 2 asection on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, on a larger scale; Fig. 3 a sectionaldetail of a convenient form of water-tight lubricated universal joint;Fig. 4 aperspective view of a mine embodying my invention; Fig. 5 a viewshowing one manner of operation of my invention; Fig. 6 another viewshowing a manner of placing my improved mine near the bottom of achannel; and Figl 7 a similar view showing the manner of placing themine near the surface.' Y

In the drawings, 10 indicates the main body of the mine containing anexplosive of any desired character. The precise shape of this mine isimmaterial and it may be buoyant or non-buoyant, depending upon the useto which it is to be put and the position in which it is to be placed.

rIhe main body 10 vis provided with an opening 11 surrounded by athreaded fittingV 12, into which may be screwed a threaded head 13 of myimproved detonator. This head 13 carries a tubular shell 14 adapted tocontain an explosive which may be loaded into the shell through theinner end which is closed by the screw cap 15. Arranged within the shell14 is a tube or casing, within which the operating mechanism is mountedJournaled within head 13 is a shaft 17 to which is connected, by auniversal joint 18, a threaded rod 19 which projects into casing 16 forabout half its length. Mounted upon the rod 19 is a nut 2O which iscarried MINE. l. Y

1918. Serial No. 220,441.

Specification of Letters Patent. y Ptented 1111 22,

between lingers 21 which are formed at one end-of a traveler 22 whichlies within casing 16 and is provided at its free yend with a cam 23.The traveler 22 is urged lightly 'iii- 27 which carries, on its-innerface, a' pair of ears 28, between which is pivoted aldetonator 29, thefree end of which vnormally rests upon the intermediate portion of thetravelei' 22, beingy yieldingly urged downwardly thereon by means of thespring 30 which is also carried 'by cap 27.v Anv examination opening isprovided on theside of'casing 16 and this is closed by a removable cover31.

Inthe line of travel of detonator 29 -is'an opening 32 which formscommunicationbeltween the interior of casing 16 and the interior ofshell 14, and this opening is adaptl ed to receivea percussion cap 33',or other suitable means, whichmay be operatedupon by the detonator 29 tocause an explosion of the charge within shell 14. u

Shaft 17 is extended out through a suitwardly by a spring 24 carried bycap 25 which closes the free end of casing 16. Cas- 1 ing 16 has anopening 26 covered bya cap L able gland 35 and provided with an eye'36to which a suitable fastening member mayv be attached, either directlyor by means of a joint or coupling such as is shown in Fig. 3.

This joint or coupling vshown in Fig. 3

comprises a pair ,of eyes 37, 37, each'of which is journaled in atwo-part casing 3.8 v which forms a connection between the eyes and maybe iilled with a hard grease, thus excluding water and insuringlubrication of the journaled` connection between vthe eyes and thecasing. tion of the carrier 22, it has a groove 40 formed in its underfaceto straddle the lug in which opening-32m formed.

In order to obtain relative rotation between shaftA 17 andthe mainbodyl() of the mine, as a result of transportation of the mine throughthe water, I either provide the main bodylO of the mine with propellerblades 41, or provide the shaft 17 with simi- Y In order to preventrot-a-v lar propeller blades 42 (Fig. 5) and in order that these bladesmay be protected against injury, I deem it advisable toconnect theirouter ends by a cylindrical protective band 43. There the propellers 42are carried by the shaft 17, it is desirable to provide the main body ofthe mine with guide blades 44, the purpose of which will appear.

In use, the mine may be anchored near the bottom, as shown in Fig. 6,and in this oase a network 50 of fine wire of comparatively large meshwill be supported above the mine for any desired distance to each sidebyv buoys 5l which may be drawn beneath the surface. instead of thisVarrangement, the arrangement shown in Fig. 7 may be adopted, where themine is buoyant and carries depending from it a network 52 which may beanchored by anchors 53.

Another method of use will be to provide a comparatively extended net54: to which the mine is attached, as shown in F ig. 5. In. this form,the presence of a submarine is suspected, the patrol vessel or dirigibleballoon may drop the netting and the associated mine overboard andstretch it across the suspected path of movement of the submarine.

In any of these arrangements, ordinary contact with the mine will notresult in an explosion, but whenever a vessel becomes entangled in theassociated network and continues its forward movement, the mine will bedragged through the water and this Amovement will cause relativerotation between a the mine body and the shaft 17, which, when continuedsufficiently, will draw cam 28 beneath and from under the detonator 29so that the detonator will be finally caused to strike the explodingmember 33, whereupon an initial explosion of the charge within casinglil will take place and this will cause explosion of the mine.

ln the form shown in Fig. 5, the mine will be connected fairly close tothe lower end of the netting -l and, because of ribs 4%, will be drawndown against the body of the submarine as the submarine moves forwardly,so that by the time nut 20 is moved along the length of rod 19 and cam28 Yis drawn from under the detonator 29, the mine will have been drawndown against the body of the submarine, so that the explosion of themine will be as effective as possible.

It will be readily understood that the precise details of construction,by means of which relative rotation between the mine body and the shaftwill result in ultimate explosion of the mine, may be modified to aconsiderable degree without departing from my invention; the fundamentalfeature of the invention residing in a provision of detonating mechanismwhich will become effective upon the charge of the mine only as a resultof somewhat extended transportation of the mine through the water.

I claim as my invention:

l. A marine mine comprising a main member, detonating mechanismembodying a rotary member for controlling the same, and a propellerblade carried by one of said members for causing relative rotationbetween said members by transportation of the main body member throughthe water, to cause explosion of the mine.

2. A marine mine comprising a main body, a detonator associated with themain body, a propeller blade carried by the main body for causingrotation of the main body, connections between the main body anddetonator for causing operation of the detonator upon sufficientrotation of the main body, and a guardrassociated with the mine andVadapted to be engaged by a vessel to cause transportation or the mine.

3. A marine mine comprising a main body carrying propeller blades, ashaft journaled in said mine and provided with means by which the minemay be towed through the water, and detonating mechanism controlled bythe rotation of said shaft, whereby transportation of the mine throughthe water will cause rotation of the main body relative to the shaft toultimately Voperate the detonating mechanism.

4. A marine mineV comprising a main body, a shaft journaled in the mainbody and having a threaded portion, a hammer member adapted to strike adetonator, means for holding a detonator in the path of movement of saidhammer, a slide engaging said hammer and capable of tripping the same, athreaded connection between the shaft and slide, and means for causingrelative rotation between the shaft and slide by transportationfof themine through the water.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my handV at Indianapolis,Indiana, this 28th day of February, A. vD. one thousand nine hundred andeighteen.

FREDERIC lV. HALIPTON.

